A Chile and A Spoon

Hello, loves!I hope you’ve all recovered from your food comas resulting from your delicious Thanksgivings feasts this last week. I had a particularly wonderful Thanksgiving this year. My beautiful mum and stepdad came out to Johnny and I to spend the holiday together and I made my first Thanksgiving turkey! Along with creamy chive and roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green beans almandine, and cranberry-apple chutney. My mum made her stuffing (which is one of the many reasons I look forward to Thanksgiving), Paula Deen’s Sweet Potato Balls and a ham. We had quite a feast!! Here’s my plate of scrumptiousness.

And here’s me and my mum!

No need to remind me how adorable we both are. Heh. 🙂

Anywhosers. Life otherwise has been pretty busy working two jobs again. I’m sure you’ve noticed that, though, from my lack of posting.

Tonight’s post is actually a super special one, though. A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Marx Foods asking me to participate in their latest blogger contest. “A Chile & A Spoon.”

The criteria?

Marx Foods sent me a sample of six different types of chile peppers. My job: create an original recipe using at least one of these six varieties… and eat it with a spoon. Sounds easy enough, right? Obviously, a hearty pot of spicy chili or soup were the first two things to pop into my mind, but I knew that was waaaaaaaaaaaaay too predictable for a contest like this. It took much pondering on my part but I FINALLY came up with a use for the chiles de arbol I received in the samples.

This particular chile pepper is about 30,000 scoville units, that is, it’s heat level is somewhere between a jalapeño, which is around 3,000 scoville units, and habaneros, which are around 300,000. I figured the medium level punch would be a perfect addition to a rich, creamy dessert like bread pudding.

The result was an outstanding combination of sweet white chocolate, tart dried cranberries and the subtle heat of chiles complimented by the sweet heat of cinnamon. The chile spice cut through the custardy pudding just as I hoped it would. If you dig desserts that will warm you from your tongue to your toes you NEED to try this recipe!

Next, add your chopped chiles!(I left in the seeds for more heat, but feel free to remove them if you wish!)

Pour the chile custard mixture over the layered bread, cranberries and white chocolate. Top it with something heavy…like this.

Then let it sit and soak for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes are up, place your baking dish (within a baking dish) on top of a baking sheet. Fill the second baking dish (the one that’s holding your bread pudding mixture) halfway with hot water, like so:

This is called a water bath, and it will help give your bread pudding the creamy, custardy texture we all love.

Now pop this in the oven and bake it for one hour.
When it’s all done, not only will your house smell divine, but it will have a golden brown top and a rich creamy interior.

8 comments

This bread pudding looks fabulous! I have a jar of those dried arbol peppers that I’ve been wondering how to use (besides in obvious ways)… I will definitely try this out- I think my spice-addict hubby would love it! Thanks for sharing!

p.s. your second-cousin Erin is my first cousin on her mom’s side- she told me about your blog a few weeks ago and I’ve added it to my list of faves!